Boxing / Editorial

Adrien Broner Drops New Mixtape, Music Video

Corey Erdman / January 22, 2013 - 4:54pm

Ever since a tight decision win over Daniel Ponce De Leon in 2011, Adrien Broner has made most everything in his professional career look remarkably easy.

The Cincinnati native has scooped up a title at super featherweight, rattled off five knockouts on HBO and now has the WBC lightweight title after a destruction of Antonio DeMarco. He's done it with pizazz and a seemingly natural talent that doesn't come along in the sport all that often.

Outside of the ring, he seems every bit as natural when it comes to marketing himself. Sure, he's been accused of putting on an act, or trying to impersonate Floyd Mayweather. But even if that's what he's doing, he's doing it pretty damn well.

And if it were all that easy, why doesn't everyone go out and do it?

Aiding in the notoriety of the recent ultra-popular African American fighters seemingly has been integrating themselves in the hip-hop community. Roy Jones Jr. made an album, and in particular, a single that people could listen to and forget that it was a boxer who was rapping. Mayweather's rapping career wasn't quite as successful, but his now-severed affiliation with 50 Cent no doubt gave him a boost in visibility.

Of course, there's Rap-A-Lot head James Prince's stable of fighters, MCHammer and Evander Holyfield, Winky Wright with Jamie Foxx and so on.

Well, whether it was a calculated decision or not, Adrien Broner has embarked on a rap career as well, with his group "Band Camp," which released its debut mixtape a few days ago. By all accounts, Broner was rapping even before he came into the public eye as a boxer, and has been hanging out with rap Rookie of the Year contender Meek Mill recently as well.

Band Camp also includes three-time Olympian and fellow Al Haymon signee Rau'shee Warren, also of Cincinnati.

Credit should be given to Broner, who doesn't seem to be milking his spotlight to push his music the way other athletes-turned-musicians have in the past. The majority of his music has been quietly uploaded to YouTube, and even the mixtape listing on WorldStarHipHop made no mention of who "Band Camp" was.

You can check out the mixtape here.

Notable on the album are tracks featuring cult sensation Lil' B, Short Dawg, and even an obligatory "girl track" with R&B star Ginuwine on the hook.

Then, there's the other song purportedly for the females--which isn't quite as romantic, let's say—titled "Lay and F---," with R&B star Ginuwine on the hook. It just so happens to be the group's debut music video as well.

Broner's verse informs the female subject that they should have hooked up a day ago, but since it didn't happen, they can do so "all day and all night," and he will "do his dance on that ass."

"The Problem" returns to the ring on February 16 against Gavin Rees, when we will more than likely see his dance on that canvas after another knockout victory.